The Gentleman and His Vowsmith

<p><b>Set in Regency England, <i>The Gentleman and His Vowsmith </i>by Rebecca Ide is a queer historical fantasy of magic, murder, high heat and humour.</b><br><br>Lord Nicholas Monterris, the last remaining heir of a crumbling ducal house, must marry to save his family from complete decline. His father chooses Lady Leaf Serral, eldest daughter of his greatest rival, at which point Nic is sure it can&rsquo;t get any worse. Until he learns the head negotiator is to be Dashiell sa Vare, an old flame he has neither forgiven nor forgotten, a man their rigid class structure forbids him to love.<br><br>Locked in the mouldering grandeur of Monterris Court (a house more haunting manifestation of dynastic ambition and ancestral guilt than home), the first dead body is troubling. The second, a warning that someone doesn&rsquo;t want the contract to go ahead. But while Nic and his wife-to-be team up to banter their way through a secret